Messing with fate
by cookiesn'cream123
Summary: Annabeth finds herself about to enjoy a school trip to Manhattan, but as usual, things get interesting. Who is there? Of course Percy and Grover, ready to help Annabeth in her awkward situation. SORRY FOR THE GRAMMATICAL ERRORS ON CHAPTER ONE, BUT MY COMPUTER WON'T LET ME FIX IT, all the other chapters are fine! THIS STORY TAKES PLACE BETWEEN THE 4TH AND 5TH BOOK
1. Chapter 1

I had already had my luggage bag packed three weeks before I was actually leaving. Yeah, I know, a little early, but i'm a daughter of Athena, I'm supposed to be organized like this. Let's see, I have my ipod, cell phone, my dagger, a few pairs of shorts, t-shirts, sneakers, an architecture book,…and all the other stuff, yup, I'm good. I pick up a picture that was on the ground, it was of percy, grover, and i. I chuckled, in the backgound, I could see the stoll brothers being chased by Clarisse, and I could tell by the look on percy's face that he was a little distracted by noise behind him.

Percy, gods I haven't seen him in a while, well, at least since the time when we parted ways on halfblood hill, me running down to the cabins after our fight with hera. I feel bad that I did that, but I just didn't want to deal with it all right then, it was too much pain. I sighed, will percy be still hurt and upset and not want anything to do with me? No, that couldn't happen, we're best friends, some part of me thought, he's too nice, he'll forgive me, wait, no, it wasn't my fault, why should I be wrong? I heaved a heavy sigh, "well, at least I'll find out if I see him in New York." I murmured to myself.

"Annabeth! C'mon, you're going to be late for school! And if you are, you'll miss your plane to Manhattan!"

"Okay, I'm coming!" I hollered back to my dad as I dragged my backpack and my suitcase down the stairs.

"we'll miss you," my step mom said, kissing me on the cheek.

"I'll miss you all too." I smiled. Well, maybe not my twin step brothers, as much.

I shoved my cereal down my throaght and started to put on my jacket when my dad yelled from the kitchen, "bye honey! Have fun on your field trip to Manhattan! And who knows? You might even see Percy there!" I cought my breath before I answered back.

"okay bye!" I yelled, and ran out the door. When I started to walk down the sidewalk, I started to think about my field trip to Manhattan, New York. It all started when Mrs. Collins, our social studies teacher, announced that we were starting to study architecture. Yup, one of my favorite things in the world to think of, I was so going to get an A+ on this topic. So as we went into the topic, mrs. Collins found out that a whole section on architecture opened up in a big museum in Manhattan, even though we're in San Fransico. But Mrs. Collins was so excited about it anyway that she promised to take us to Manhattan, New York if we raised the money. Well, here we are, our grade going to school with big suitcases right behind us.

"Okay class! So as you know the busses will be here any second to bring us to the airport, so get in your groups! We all got ready and got into our groups to head out to the busses that were parked in the parking lot. Luckely, our school was really small, so there were only 28 kids in our class. Yeah, small group. Our school is a really small school just because it's a private school for very rich and wealthy family's, which mine isn't so I just got in because of my academics.

"Hey," Cole slid in next to my on the on my buss seat. "mind if I sit with you for the buss ride?" I felt my face heat up.

"Umm…I…uh…" I stamerd, Cole was known to be one of the hottest guys in our whole entire school. He had brown hair, the type that's long enough to be flippy hair, but reaches down to the top of his eyes, and to the middle of his neck in the back, exactly like Percy's. I blushed, woah, hold up! Why did I just make that reference? Must be the logical, observitory side of me. Cole also has deep blue eyes, just like the night sky. Actually, they reminded me of Luke's. Luke, I thought, I have to fight him this summer. Just when the knot in my stomach started to form, Cole interrupted me.

"well, can i?" he asked. I stared at him blankly.

"oh, uh sure," I said quietly, and then just smiled, while the bus started to pull out of the school parking lot. Oh gods, I thought, I'll have to sit next to Cole for the two hour ride to the airport! I sighed heavely. I don't like Cole, and I barley know him, but he's a complete jerk. At least, that's what I hear from all the other girls in the school. But why did he want to sit with me? I looked around and saw that there were plenty of open spots next to his buddies, but while looking, I realized that everyone except the teachers were staring at us, the guys pushing each other around like doofuses and the girls giving me the evil glare, I guess out of jealosy?

"so…" he started, twirling his thumbs, "do you like architecture?" I was a little surprised by his question, but answered calmly,

"yeah, its interesting," with Percy, I would of just gushed out information on my possible future as an architect. About the buildings I would design, and blueprints. But with Cole, I was suspicious of him and I barley knew him, so I left it at that.

Finally, after the two hours of awkward talking, (mainly because I wouldn't open up,) he turned to me right as I was about to get up and get my luggage off the bus.

"What?" I asked, trying to not show my annoyance. it was bad enough to sit next to a jerk who wasn't even kind to you, but now he had some other stupid thing to say!

"I was thinking…" he trailed off, as if lost in his thoughts, maybe deciding if what he was about to say a good idea.

"yeah?"

"well, my friends and I are bringing our dates to a diner and dance after the tour of the meusam, you know, because were staying in New york for the weekend, and after the tour Mrs. Collins says we can spend that night and the rest of the day touring the city…"

"so?" I was starting to catch onto an idea, but my stomach started to twist and I was starting to feel sick just thinking of it.

"And you're gonna be my date." What! I started at him, my chin touching the ground. Did he just _dare_ order me to be his date? It didn't surprise me that that was the reason he sat next to me, but does he really think that he's so great, that he can just say that to a girl and assume they'll do it?! Nobody EVER talks that way to a daughter of Athena. Sadly, I wished I handled the situation a little better.

"Not if you the last jack ass on Earth! How dare you demand me to go on a date with you?!"

"ooh looks like you to _afraid _ to go out with me,"he sneered "Why can't you go?". A wave of panic took over. What was I supposed to do? I mean sure, other guys over this past year asked me out, but when I just told them I wasn't interested, they left it at that.

"Uh…" I stuttered. Come on! I'm the stinking daughter of Athena! Athena ALWAYS has a plan! Then one came.

"I-I have a-a boyfriend."An ugly smug smile came to his face.

"ooohhh…I see, you're just lying to get out of having a date with me,"

"No! I do too have a boyfriend!"

"Really? What's his name?" Oh Hades. I never EVER saw this coming, what so I say?! To my horror I heard a name escape my lips.

"Percy…"

"Last name?"

I winced, well, at least this will get me out of going on the date. Hopefully Cole just doesn't meet him.

"Jackson. And he lives in Manhatten, New York near the hotel where we're staying. " I sighed, I got out of it, thank the Gods.

"Well I want to meet this Jackson kid, meet my buds and I at the dinner place and dance afterwards just so I can see he's your boyfriend."

"What?!" I skweaked. Tartarus! Why did I have to say that he Lived in New York!? But being the stubborn daughter of Athena I am, I wasn't going to back down.

"Fine, I will! And I'm so not afraid!"

"okay," he shoved past me, and got off the bus. "Oh, and Annabeth, if you don't bring your boyfriend, then you'll have to go on a date with me."

"Deal!" I said through my gritted teeth.


	2. Chapter 2

Basically, I spent the whole plane ride hitting myself on the forehead for being so stupid. Why? Why Percy? Why couldn't I just have rejected him, or just went on the one date with Cole? Now, I only have 24 hours to figure out some way to solve this mess.

"Hey, are you alright?" a girl named Chrissy was sitting next to me. "You look stressed." Chrissy had really tan skin, just like you see on the magazines of famous actresses. Her hair was long and silky brown, that reached all the way down to her waist, she also had big blue eyes, that looked like shattered glass, but in a pretty way.

I smiled. At least some people in our school aren't jerks.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just thinking about that moment back there." She laughed. Her laugh was so pretty, they sounded like bells ringing.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, he did the same thing to me once." Now thinking of it, I started to remember what happened. When Cole asked her, she pulled the card of having a boyfriend and actually, grabbed her friend who was next to her and claimed that they were going on a date that night anyways.

"Well, you handled it well," I said. She just smiled.

"Well you didn't really have any guys around at the time to pretend with. But God, he must really want to go on a date with you, because he pushed really hard."

"Yeah, I guess so…" I looked out the window, the scene of it all replaying in my head.

"Oh, so if you don't mind me asking, who's your boyfriend that you mentioned?" her eyes lit up, as if this was one topic she really enjoyed.

"Well…" I looked out the window again.

"Oh… so this Percy guy isn't really your boyfriend, huh?" she whispered, but she sounded sincere.

"Yeah…he's just one of my best friends since I was twelve," I murmured, feeling my cheeks warm up for some reason.

"Then why are you blushing?" Now, she officially resembled the perfect daughter of Aphrodite, always trying to find love in a simple sentence.

"I'm not!" whispered, clutching my Yankees hat that I somehow took out of my bag without even realizing it.

To my horror, I saw her caring smile turn into a deviouse grin.

"Oh, you like him."

"Are you crazy?!" I hissed, my face probably as red as a tomato now.

"It's okay," she waved her hand in the air. "Your secret is safe with me."

"But I don't!" I stammered, frantically trying to get her to believe me.

"Okay, if you say so…" she said, but I could tell she still didn't believe me. We spent ten minutes in silence, not the bad, awkward silence, but the type where one is daydreaming and the other one is quiet because they want to refrain from puking.

The next hour or so I spent sleeping. Sadly though, I had a dream, and dreams are never good for a demigod. In my dream, I saw Luke, being held up by the hands of a monster. I'm not sure of what type of monster, but either way, it wasn't good. I looked at his face and tried to run towards him, only to find that I couldn't move. And that's when I heard the terrible voice that sounded like fingers screeching down a chalkboard, and I knew it was Kronos. "Darling," he hissed, the sound swirling around my body, ready to engulf me. "If you want to save your precious Luke then you must give yourself up to me, and become part of my army." My mind swirled as if it were in a trance.

"I can't!" I yelled into the darkness, "You have already taken over Luke's body!"

"Not true!" Kronos hissed back at me "you still love him, don't you? If you join my army, I'll give him back to you after we defeat Olympus,"

"No," I murmured, but I was starting to feel dizzy, "I won't ever join your army!" Then the weirdest thing happened, the earth started to envelop me, wrapping around my legs, pulling me under. Then in the back of my mind, I heard someone shout my name,

"Annabeth!"

Who is it? I thought groggily. But who cares who it is, all I know is I can't ever get Luke back…

Just as the soil was up to my neck, I saw a figure running through the fog. It was Percy.

"Percy!" I shouted, then in my dream I passed out, but felt two arms wrap underneath my arms and yanked my incoherent body upwards.

"Annabeth, are you okay? Please answer me!" In my dream I opened up my eyes to see Percy, holding me, with Grover and Nico next to him. Huh, I wonder why they're here…

"Percy?" I croaked

"Are you ok?" his face had a really worried expression, he actually looked sort of cute with his eyebrows all scrunched together, and his sea green eyes, even though I would never admit that.

Before I could answer Percy's question, I was woken up by getting punched in the shoulder, hard.

"Hey! What was that for!?" I yelled at Chrissy while rubbing the side of my arm, now fully awake.

"Well, I heard you saying 'Percy' in your dream, so instead of having you talk in your sleep and embarrassing yourself, I woke you up so it wouldn't get any worse!" I blushed, but then smiled. Even though the punch really hurt, I'm glad that she did that for me. I'm even starting to have a feeling that she was going to be my best friend in this class. At least, I hope she would. She's the nicest person I've met at this school so far.

"Thanks," I muttered.

"No problem," she replied, tossing her chocolate brown hair behind her shoulder. Right as she said that the captain spoke,

"Excuse the interruption, passengers, but we are now landing in Manhattan, New York."


	3. Chapter 3

After our class got all of our luggage off the plane, we headed towards the exit areas of the airport, where all the people are picked up by their families who are waiting for them. Right as I stepped out of the airport to the pickup area with Chrissy, the first thing I noticed was the smell. It was completely different from San Francisco. Manhattan smelled more like damp air that is mixed with all the toxic gas that comes out of all the cars and taxis and other things. And trust me, that smells way worse than where I live.

"Ugh, Yuck!" Chrissy stated, putting her hand up to her nose to cover it.

"That makes two of us," I muttered. "hey do you know how we're going to get to our hotel?"

"I think by bus. At least, that's what Mrs. Collins said." Chrissy rubbed her chin, as if now wondering what type of bus we were taking. Right then, and big Greyhound bus pulled up in front of us.

"Class! Class! Gather around! Okay, load all of your things on, we're on our way to the Greek Art Hotel!" Mrs. Collins shouted over all of us.

"We're staying at the Greek Art hotel?" I whispered to Chrissy. The Greek Art Hotel is a really fancy and expensive hotel. I definitely wasn't thinking that we were going to stay there.

"Apparently," she muttered, before picking up her bags and getting on the bus. As I was getting on the bus, Cole shoved me with his shoulder, when I looked him in the eye, he had a look that looked like the dark pits of Tartarus. I swear that wasn't human…

"Annabeth, come on!" Chrissy waved her hand and I walked over and sat next to her. "what was that all about with Cole just then?"

"I have no clue…" I replied, but I was thinking about how I would have to meet him and his buddies, on a date with my "boyfriend", my mind caught on that. What should I do? Should I actually bring Percy? Well, if cole really was a monster, then it would be easier do kill him with percy's help. But what if Cole wasn't a monster? Then I would look stupid asking Percy to pretend to be my boyfriend for the night. I blushed, just my luck of getting trapped in this kind of situation.

"You're blushing again," chrissy said under her breath to me. "are you still thinking about Percy?" now it was my turn to punch her in the arm, and she let out a little yelp.

"Hey! What in the name of Hades was that for?!" I stared at her blankly.

"You just said Hades..." her face paled.

"W-well y-yeah, I always say t-that." She stuttered, fumbling with her backpack. "I really like Greek Mythology…" I let it go, maybe she just gets nervous when people ask her about her interest towards Greek Mythology, but then why did her face pale so badly?

"Well I like Greek mythology too," I stated, trying to comfort her.

"Really?" her big blue eyes suddenly looked hopeful.

"Love it," I said as enthusiastically as I could. If only she knew that I almost get killed by the monsters from the stories on a daily basis. I chuckled to myself. I wonder how Percy is holding up with the monsters, him being the son of Poseidon and all.

"Well I bet you don't know as much as much as I do," she flashed me a white smile, so I knew she was joking around, but a daughter of Athena still has to prove their knowledge.

"quize me."

The next 20 minutes or so we spent quizzing each other on all the myths, I got every question correct, and so did she.

"Wow, you really know your stuff," she said, then smiled. "Ya know, if the Gods and all that stuff really were real, I think you would be a perfect daughter of Athena, since you love planning, organization, and all that stuff."

"No kidding."

"Really, I mean it!" she said, laughing. I suppressed a smile and leaned back in my seat. Well, at least I'm glad that I represent my mother well. After the laughing subsided, Chrissy looked me straight in the eye. "You also have really pretty Grey eyes, which it is said that most Athena children have. What God or Goddess do you think I would be?" I already had an answer for this a long time ago, but I answered smoothly.

"A daughter of Aphrodite." Her face paled again, but as quickly as it came, it went away. Seriously, I was starting to worry about this girl.

"Why? Because I realize the little thing going on between you and Percy?" I blushed again.

"You don't even know him! And he's just a friend!"

"If you say so, but I'll meet him here, since we're in Manhattan, right?" I tried to hide my rosy cheeks I told her I'd think about it.

"Oh c'mon, please?" She was giving me a puppy dog face.

"Fine." I muttered. "But don't you DARE do anything embarrassing." Why did I just say that? I would never try to impress Seaweed Brain, but I guess I just didn't want anything awkward to happen. I mean, I already kissed him on Mt. Saint Helens, that was embarrassing enough. I still think back to that moment when for one brief second, my lips were pressed against his, and I felt something really strange inside me, something I had never felt before, but why did I do such a stupid thing like that? I know I did it because I thought he was going to die, and I know as a best friend I couldn't live without him, life just wouldn't be the same-but I'd never kiss Grover like that! But I had so many mixed up emotions that day that I just didn't know what I was doing. Just then the teacher's loud voice interrupted my thoughts.

"Class, welcome to the Greek Art Hotel!"


	4. Chapter 4

If I had any words to describe the hotel, it would mainly be, that its huge. Literally, almost a whole football stadium could fit in here. All along the walls there were Greek columns and carvings of all the Greek Gods. In the background classical piano music was playing. "Huh," I uttered, "I wonder what designing method they used to create this place-"

"Annabeth?" a familiar voice came from behind me. I swirled around to see if it was the person I thought it was and dropped my backpack and luggage.

"Mrs. Jackson!" her eyes lit up, as I ran and tackled her with a hug. You see, ever since I first met Percy's mom when she picked Thalia and I up to drive us to the boarding school to meet Grover and rescue to half-bloods, I really liked her. She was nice, sweet, funny, and always had a smile on her face. After hugging her, she held me at arms length to get a good look at me.

"My Annabeth! You've got to stop growing!" we both laughed, then she her hand to my cheek. "And you've got to stop getting prettier every time I see you also," giving me a sweet smile. I swear, I wouldn't mind if she was MY mom. In fact, I sort of wish she was. But she interrupted my thoughts by laughing. "Oh poor Percy, he probably won't know what to do the next time he sees you, you're much more…mature looking." I probably blushed, and at the same time laughed inwardly. Percy? Thinking I'm pretty? Yeah, not in a million years, and if he ever complimented me on my looks… well I don't know what I'd do. But I was also stunned. Mrs. Jackson, thought I looked more mature since the last time she saw me? Again, my thoughts were interrupted. "Well, actually, you always were mature looking, but it just amazes me every time I see you."

Before I could thank her, Chrissy came up right next to me.

"Oh, and this is Chrissy, one of my friends." I said, gesturing to Chrissy with my hand. "Chrissy, Mrs. Jackson, Mrs. Jackson, Chrissy." Mrs. Jackson smiled sweetly.

"Oh please, you can just call my Sally," she said warmly.

"Well nice to meet you," Chrissy said politely. Mrs. Jackson then turned back towards me.

"So Annabeth, how come you're in Manhattan?" I paused for a moment to figure out how to put it into good words. I mean, its not every day that a teacher brings their class to the other side of the country.

"Well, our grade is on a field trip here because of the new Architect section just made in the New Museum," Mrs. Jackson chuckled.

"Well, you must all really like Architecture to come all the way to Manhattan from San Francisco." I smiled sheepishly.

"Yeah I guess we like it a whole lot." Just then, the teacher's voice cut into our conversation.

"Annabeth, Chrissy! Stay with us! Half the students are already on their way to the elevators!"

"Okay coming!" Chrissy and I answered back. Chrissy already started to run to Mrs. Collins with all her luggage, but right as I was about to say goodbye to Mrs. Jackson, something nagged me in the back of my mind that for the past ten minutes I wanted to ask her. "Um, Mrs. Jackson, just one more thing, how's-"

"Percy?" she asked, her lips forming a thin smile. This woman knew me too well.

"Uh…um…yeah."

"Oh, don't be embarrassed, of course your wondering how one of your best friend is doing. And yes, he's at the beach with Grover right now, but he's doing really well," she hesitated for a second, and I knew what was coming next. "except for all this stress about the war." She whispered, afraid for anyone else to here. After a moment of tense silence, her face brightened up again. "Anyways, Percy would kill me if he knew I told this to you, but he really misses you, Annabeth." I felt my face heat up. Gods, until now, I haven't even thought of the fact that Percy misses hanging out with me, I wish I got to see him more often, it's better than just e-mailing him all the time like I do. I looked behind me and realized my whole class was already entering the elevator...so much for waiting for me you guys. Mrs. Jackson seemed to read my mind. "Oh! Well I see that you've got to run so how about I talk to you later, okay?" I nodded, then she asked "How long are you staying here for?"

"Till Tuesday morning." I replied. Today was Friday, so I had three full days here.

"Oh wonderful! Annabeth, I really want to talk to you later, how about you meet me here an hour from now okay?" by now, all of my classmates were loaded onto the elevators.

"Uh, yeah, that's great! Bye!" I waved, picking up my luggage and running out the door.  
"Okay, bye! I'll tell Percy you're here!" A gut-wrenching feeling churned in my stomach.

"Wait, no!" I exclaimed frantically. A confused expression passed over her face.

"What? Why?"

"I'll tell you later!" I answered in a hushed tone and before I could say anything more, the elevator doors closed.


	5. Chapter 5

**Note: I'm sorry for not spelling selena and Beckingdorf right...however you spell it. Oh, and I don't own any of the characters, which I should have stated a long time ago :P**

When we reached the floor our class was staying on, I found out that I had only one other roommate, and thankfully, it was Chrissy. Most the other rooms on this floor fit four to six people in the rooms. The boys and the girls were separated, which I could only imagine that some of the guys were disappointed. The boy's rooms were all in the left end of the hall, while all the girls were on the right.

Just then, one of the groups of girls shoved into me and knocked me over, sending all of my bags I was holding in all sorts of directions. I looked up at the group of girls that just knocked me on my butt. As soon as I saw them, I knew those were the snotty popular girls that are always in the halls, doing their makeup, or flirting with the guys. Then one of them spoke up.

"Hey aren't you that girl who got asked out by Cole?" they all snickered. I could tell that the one who spoke up was probably the leader of her little clan.

"What does it matter to you?" I snarled back. I couldn't stand these girls already, and they only said one sentence!

"Oh, nothing," the lead girl continued, looking at her fingernails. "it's just that we all can't figure out why he asked YOU." They all snickered, but I had a comeback.

"Well that's simply because you don't have enough brain cells to spare." The lead girl, took a step back, shocked, then glared at me with hatred. I smiled, the feeling's mutual, my friend. I looked around and pulled myself up with chrissy's help, and realized that a little group of viewers were gawking at me, probably thinking I was insane for fighting the girls everyone always feared. A small sense of pride filled in me, but that was quickly deflated.

"We know about your little lie, Annabelle, and we know you have no way of proving us wrong." they cooed. Chrissy snickered, I just sighed, I can't believe they're so snooty to even forget my name, now that's just plain ridiculous.

"Well, I do have a boyfriend, and he's even here in Manhattan," I said feeling the confidence start to swell up again, Chrissy even pitched in.

"Yeah, and unless you want to get her boyfriend mad, don't bother her about it 'cause if he gets mad at you guys, well, game over for you, because he's ripped!" I glared at her. Ripped? Really? But for some reason, the girls backed away, as if Chrissy was a charm speaker. As they started to leave, the lead girl turned around gave me an evil eye. Oh, so scary.

"Don't think that you've fooled us, Annabelle, we're going to that dinner too, because we're the guys' dates and I want to see if you actually HAVE a boyfriend." I smirked.

"Yeah well, when you see him there, you'll probably be drooling!" I was now just doing my best to keep from cracking up. Before I could, Chrissy grabbed me by my wrist and dragged me into our room, where I slammed the door shut. Not even a moment later we started bursting out laughing.

"He's 'ripped?'" I asked between laughs. She cracked up even harder,

"I couldn't think of anything else at the time!" we were laughing so hard we could barely breath. "Nice comeback with the 'no brain cells to spare'!"

"Well it's true!" and we laughed even harder, Chrissy even started slapping her knee so hard, it turned red. Finally, after ten minutes of laughing so much our sides hurt, we finally died down. Chrissy sighed.

"Oh, that was just too good. Annabeth, you're really quick with your words in a moment, I swear, you WOULD make a perfect daughter of Athena!" I tensed, but then just relaxed again. There's no way she actually THINKS I'm a true daughter of Athena, she doesn't even believe the Greek Gods are real! "So Annabeth, what are you going to do about this whole boyfriend thing, I mean, the dinner-date and dance are right after the tour tomorrow! You don't have much time to come up with a plan."

"I know," I sighed. "It's just, what do you expect me to do? Go up to my best friend out of the blue with him not even knowing I'm here and ask him to pretend to be my boyfriend for the night?" I blushed to myself at the thought, I couldn't ever get used to calling Seaweed Brain that, we're best friends! Chrissy started to rub her chin hard, the more I think about it now, she sort of reminds me of Seleana Beurgard back at camp. Huh, I wonder how she and Beckingdorf are doing. Chrissy spoke up.

"Well, do you want me to ask him for you?" I gasped as if she asked me to jump off a cliff.

"No! I can do it by myself If I need to!" I retorted.

"Okay! Okay!" she laughed, holding her hands up in surrender. "But we have about three hours of free time right now, so this is the time you should probably go and ask him." I looked at the clock on the wall, which said 4:57 P.M., and I turned back towards her.

"So you're saying dinner is at 8:00?"

"Yep," she answered, throwing on her flip-flops and getting ready to head out the door, then I looked back at the clock, 4:58 P.M., and I just realized something.

"Oh Hades!" I said and started to strangle on my shoes.

"What?!" asked Chrissy, looking like she is about to have heart-attack.

"I need to meet Mrs. Jackson at the lodge! You go on ahead without me!" a wave of relief washed over her face, but then quickly turned into annoyance.

"You just almost gave me a heart-attack for that?! Jeez! I thought something was seriously wrong! But okay, I'm going to go down to the new arcade, bye!" and with that she shut the door behind her.

After I got on my sneakers, I ran down three flights of stairs, on the way almost tripping over a dog, and almost crashing into a waitress all in an effort to make it there on time. When I reached the lobby, I found Mrs. Jackson sitting there at one of the tables, holding what seemed to be a cup of coffee in her hands. When she saw me, her eyes lit up.

"Hi, Mrs. Jackson!" I panted. she laughed,

"Oh please Annabeth, just call me Sally, you know I don't ever get called Mrs. Jackson by anyone else." I smiled sheepishly, and sat down in the chair across from her.

"Uh, okay…Sally." She smiled, but then that turned into a worried frown.

"Annabeth, sweety, why earlier did you not want me to tell Percy you were here?" I suddenly found interest in picking the lint off of my shorts. But after a few silent seconds, I answered her.

"Well, um…" I started, not really knowing about how to go along this subject. I looked back at Sally's eyes, and realized no matter how long I stalled, she would just wait politely, until she got an answer. "There's this guy in my class…" I trailed off, looking at her, hoping she would help me with this.

"What about this guy?" she asked, her face forming mixed concern and curiosity, and I was starting to guess why "Oh, Annabeth, he's not your boyfriend, is he?"

"What?! No! it's the complete opposite!" I exclaimed, frantically about to wave my hands to make the point. A wave of relief passed over her face, and leaned back in her seat on the lobby couch calmly. But why would she get so worried if I had a boyfriend? Before I could think more about it, she asked

"So what do you mean when you say this guy is the complete opposite of your boyfriend?"

"Well," I answered, "This guy earlier today asked me out on a date tomorrow evening, and a dance, but he's a real jerk, and so I…" I looked away from her again, and looked out of the big window next to us.

"So what did you do?" Sally pushed, and I looked at my sneakers.

"I lied to him that I had a…" I blushed deeply, I just hoped Sally didn't notice. "a…boyfriend." Instead of laughing at me, Sally gave me a sympathetic smile. So I continued. "Then when this guy didn't believe me, he asked me what my boyfriend's name was…" I looked away quickly. There is NO WAY I could tell her what I said! It would be so weird to tell your best friend's mother that you said their child's name as your boyfriend!

"Well, who did you say? Did you say Grover? Or Nico? That would be perfectly understandable…" but by the straight face I saw she was trying to keep, I knew she already had a guess. I couldn't stand it anymore.

"I said P-Percy…" I squeaked, my face so red now that it looked like I was about to explode. Sally just giggled,

"My little Percy, huh?"

"Only because that was the first guys name that came to my mind!" I cried in self-defense, spluttering out the words frantically. She only gave me a sweet smile, as if she was thinking she had just won a victory. Finally after about ten minutes of pleading for her to believe me, I just banged my head down against the table. So much for being a daughter of Athena. Sally took a sip from her coffee.

"Annabeth, I know you panicked, and I understand that." She said calmly, as if trying to reassure me. "But if that's all there is to it, and this guy who asked you out believed you, then why didn't you want Percy to know you were here yet?" I managed a shaky laugh.

"Well, the problem is, he didn't believe me," I looked at her straight in the eyes "and he wants me to prove it by taking my 'boyfriend' to the dinner-date and dance with him and his buddies, along with their dates, and if I don't," my throat got tighter, "I'll have to go on a date with the guy who asked me out in the first place ALONE, just with him!" I moaned and this time slammed my head against the table harder, if that was even possible. Now Sally started to understand the situation a little better.

"Oh," she muttered faintly, "now I see the problem…" she formed a smile of amusement and looked up at the ceiling, "Oh Poseidon, help us." My face paled,

"Oh, great," I muttered, loud enough for her to hear. "I also forgot that my mom hates Poseidon," I muttered. Sally gave me a weary look.

"It's fine, Annabeth, I'm sure Athena won't mind," she said reassuringly, but I think she was trying to reassure herself more than me, probably because she's worried that her son might be zapped by lightning if he goes on this date with me. After a long minute of silence, I spoke up again.

"So what am I going to do?" her face brightened up again, as she rearranged the silverware on the small table.

"The only thing you can do, go on a fake date with Percy."


	6. Chapter 6

**Note: Sorry guys, but this one is shorter than usual. Like I said I don't own anything, but I promise next chapter will be longer!**

All the blood drained from my face.

"What?" was all I could manage. Me, fake date, with Percy?! Hold up, no, no, no, no! I gawked at her, I mean, I'm not dumb. I saw this coming, but I just thought there would be some other way, anything but that! Sally noticed what was going through my head.

"Sweetie, it won't be as bad as you think," she patted my shoulder, trying to give me comfort. It wasn't Percy that was the bad part. I always love to hang out with Percy, we laugh, we talk, we've even gotten so angry with each other that there were some conversations we couldn't even get through without trying to strangle each other. There was even one time when he came into my cabin at camp and he held me while I cried in his arms about the stress of me leading my first ever quest this past summer. Butterflies fluttered in my stomach. I even remember how I was sitting, looking at all the maps of the Labrynth, and when Percy came in, I just chocked up and cried, while he hugged me. I even remember his shirt smelling like the ocean, and his breathing was slow and calm, and for some strange reason, I felt safe, and I had this really weird feeling deep inside me that today I still can't really decipher what it was. Just then, Sally shook me out of my flashback.

"So, Annabeth, Percy's still at the beach with Grover, enjoying the warm spring air…" I could see where she was going, and I stood up from my seat.

"Thank you Sally," I said, "Tell Paul Blowfis I said hi." She smiled.

"I will." I was about to get up and go but then Sally grabbed my wrist. "And Annabeth, I have a feeling that you're worried about seeing him, right?" I looked away. How does she know all these things?

"Mother's instinct" she answered, noting the surprise on my face. She then looked me straight in the eye. "Annabeth, I know my son as well as you know architecture, so I know what happened when you two last saw each other." I cringed, but tried to look poised and like I was fine.

"You do? How?" I asked. She gave me a sly grin.

"Well, lets just say I hear some of Percy and Grover's conversations."

"They talk about me?" now my face was as red as it was before. Gods! It's like my face is a mood ring!

"Of course they do! You're their best friend! They both miss you," when she said that, her face softened a bit. "But I heard Percy talking about how he feels horrible that he asked you a question about the last line of the prophecy, and how it hurt you so much you ran off, then I heard something else that he said," she hesitated for a moment, and smiled at me. "Annabeth, I heard Grover ask Percy If he cared about you, and he answered that of course he does, that you were one of his best friends, so he'd do anything for you." I just stood there, as still as a statue. Could he really of said that? Sally then just gave me a confident smile. "That's why, Annabeth, I'm sure he'll say yes to your little plan, because he and Grover will always help you no matter what, no matter how embarrassing the need is, because they're your best friends, and they care." I swear, Sally just made that sound like it came out of a textbook all about true friendship. Well go figure, she's planning to write books for a career anyways. I looked at the clock, which read 6:02 P.M. Holy Hepheastes, an hour has already gone by?! "Well, you better get going!" Sally started to push me out of Lobby doors. "Bye! Have fun!" she called. I waved back to her, pushed through the rotating doors, and headed down the street. Here I go, I'm going to find Seaweed Brain and goat boy at the beach.


	7. Chapter 7

**I said I'd make up for how short chapter 6 was right? Well here ya go :)**

It wasn't that hard finding the nearest local beach. Actually, it was much easier than I thought it would be. Basically, right as I walked out of the doors of the hotel, there was a sign saying: "Sandy shores beach, 4 miles north." I groaned. I have to walk two miles? That's okay, part of me thought, I have to run that distance for warm up in track, besides, I already had my sneakers on. To my surprise, after 3 miles or so of running, I was out of the city. Literally, out of the city. No taxis, big buildings, only their sounds in the distance. Just a long dirt road through an area of grass and right beside that, the bay. But it was empty, only trees surrounded its edges, not one building in sight. As I was running, I breathed in the salty sea air. No wonder Percy loved the smell. When it wasn't polluted by the dank, city smells, it was amazing. Just then I heard the sound of a golf cart pulling up behind me. I stoped running, and I turned around to see an old couple in their blue golf cart singing and smiling. They noticed me and pulled over to the side. "Ahoy!" The old man called out. "Do ye need a ride?" I chuckled to myself. A retired sailor probably, oh well.

"Yes please!" I said politely and hopped in. I know, you're never supposed to get in a strangers car (or golf cart, in this case) no matter how nice they look. But for some reason, I just felt like I could trust them. After about two minutes of riding, the old lady spoke up.

"So what might be your name, sweety?"

"Annabeth,"

"My, what a pretty name," she studied me even closer. "oh, and what beautiful grey eyes," she said in awe.

"Thank you," I said as politely as I could.

"So where are you headed?" she asked, her old face forming a warm smile

"Sandy shores beach," I replied, her eyes sparkled.

"That's a nice place. Very romantic spot at dusk, I'd imagine you being so pretty that you have a boyfriend you're meeting there?" oh, the irony of it all. Maybe I can just tell her that I have a fake boyfriend there and I have to ask him to a fake date or else I'll have to go on a real date with some jerk I hate instead…so romantic.

"Well, here we are!" she exclaimed, interrupting my thoughts. Honestly, that's been happening all too often now.

After we pulled onto the beach (yes it was so small and private that there was no parking lot) I was dropped off and said thank you to my drivers. In return, they smiled and sped off.

I looked around the beach. I'd say there were 50 people all together. Sadly, by the looks of it, it seemed to be that 25 of the people there were guys ages ranging from 13 to 21. About 20 of the people were girls, also in ranges from 13 to 21, all of them wearing cute little bikini's and tanning on the beach. The other 4 people were older couples, enjoying the view, then the last person was the hot dog guy.

My shoulders sagged. Yeah, this was a small beach, and I had around two hours to find them, but I didn't want to waste time. As I walked along the edge of the beach, halfway in the grass and dirt road, there was little bar side grill at the edge of the beach that I never noticed before, and next to that, a bikini shop. I walked over to the bathing suit shop, because honestly I had no idea where else to go.

"Hello young lady! How may I help you this fine evening!" I whirled around to find a short man, about 5 feet tall, with grey hair and a thick mustache beaming up at me.

"Uh, I'm fine thanks, I don't have any money to buy anything, sorry." But the man still kept on smiling, which was already starting to creep me out.

"That's fine!" then he froze, and at first I thought he was having a heart-attack or something.

"Uh-are you okay?" he then shook his head to get out of the trance and looked at me in awe.

"Here, I'll give you a free bathingsuit." Ok, something told me I should get out of the store now, this guy is a little wacked. I started to back towards the doors, but the man noticed and started panicking.

"Oh, please! Let me get you a free bikini! You could go out on the beach and play and show it off! And if anyone asks where you got it, you can tell them you got it here! Please! It would bring me great business!" before I could answer, he raced off to one of the racks and came back with a silver bikini. I held my breath. It was beautiful, it was one of those ones that had gold rings that connected the two sides of the lower part of the bikini, and it also had small gold stripes, you wouldn't think that looked good, but the way the bathing suit was designed, it looked amazing. Right then the man literally shoved it to me and told me to go change in the changing rooms. Once I came out he just stared at me with a huge grin, then shoved me out the door, and told me to go make him some good business.

"Ok, weird," I muttered to myself. I threw my t-shirt and shorts on over the bikini. I didn't want anyone to see me in that. Surprisingly, as I looked at a nearby clock, that whole thing only took 5 minutes. Something was really weird about this. Usually, you don't get a free bathing suit right when you walk into a store.

"Hello, Annabeth," I whirled around to find a beautiful woman leaning against the building.

"Aphrodite," I grumbled, how many more surprises am I going to get today?

"be nice, child. I just got you that nice bathing suit." That didn't surprise me.

"What for exactly?"

she pursed her red lips into a smile.

"You'll see." And with that, she vanished. But along with the bathing suit, she gave me a sick feeling of dread. Aphrodite is the goddess of love... Gods, I just hope that nothing terrible goes wrong. I sighed, I still have a lot of time to find Percy and Grover…I started to scan the beach, and bingo. I saw Grover in jeans and fake sneakers, walking with a tray of ice cream, one for Percy, and one for him probably. He was just leaving the side bar now, only concentrated on not spilling the ice cream on his trey. Should I just run up to him? No, that would probably hive him a heart-attack. Oh well, i'll just first see where they're sitting, and then-

"Hey! Look who's here! My date for tomorrow night!" a sickening feeling of dread knotted in my stomach, but I turned around.

"Sorry, but I don't have any time to waste with you." I tried to look as intimidating as I could. Usually, if I gave my intimidating glare to Percy or Grover, it would make Grover whimper, and Percy completely freeze as still as a statue. Sadly, I don't think I had much effect on Cole.

"Wow, feisty, that's cute." He grabbed my arm, and a feeling of panic started to twist my stomach. "Annabeth, why don't you just save yourself all this trouble of finding a fake boyfriend at the beach and just hang with my buds and I for the evening, huh?"

"I told you, I have a real boyfriend!" the grip from his hand tightened around my arm, to the point where it was starting to become painful.

"Well I can't wait to meet him," he hissed through his teeth. I started to twist and punch, before I got pinned by his other arm against a tree. Great, now all I have left to fight with are my feet. But before I could, he pressed his leg against my knees, his body close to mine. He smelled like a certain type of clone, one that entranced you, making you only think about him, and then his deep blue eyes stared deeply into mine.

"I also forgot to tell you what beautiful grey eyes you have Annabeth," he whispered his face getting closer to me, But I couldn't move. My heart was thumping as loud as an Elephant stomping. His face was now only an inch away from mine-

"Hey!"

I froze. That couldn't be him. I'd be too lucky, but I felt my heart start to flutter, going from and elephant army to a bird in a cage. Cole turned around and let one of my arms loose, but still had my other arm pinned to the tree.

"What do you want?" Unfortunately Cole was still covering me so I couldn't see who just spoke, but I already had my ideas.

"Let her go," the person said, sounding really confident.

"Why? Do you know her?" just then, Cole let go of me and fully turned around so I could see who was talking. I was right.

"Percy," I whispered, now my heart was doing jumping jacks. Seriously, what's up with _that? _But my voice sounded strange, as if really shaky. Percy looked amazing. His messy black hair still the same, his green eyes still shown brightly, but right now they were darker, the same exact color of the sea during a storm. Other than that he was pretty much the same. Wait, no, he was taller. Now he was taller than me. Not by a whole lot, but this past summer we were practically the same height. Also, he looked really well-built. Not stocky, for sure, but not lanky either. He was slim but looked like a major athlete. In other words, he pretty musch had a male model body. He was basically every teenage girls dream. I guess camp training really paid off, he even had a six pack! All together, he looked kind of…hot. _NO_! I mentally slapped myself. I couldn't think like that! Percy's been my friend since I was twelve! I don't actually find him _attractive_. That's just-

"Well, do you know her or not?" Cole growled snapping me back to relality. I looked back at Percy, I didn't even realize Grover was next to him.

"Yes, I DO know her, so lay off." Percy stated. Cole smirked.

"Really? Then what's her name?"

"Annabeth, and she's my friend, so get your grimy hands of of her." He replyed. This was just stupid, were we really playing this name game?. Cole bit his lip, and for a quick second it seemed as though fire danced in his eyes.

"Nope, sorry pal, you've got the wrong girl." Oh. My. Gods. Cole was really pulling that card?!

I then heard a distant roar of a wave. _Uh oh_, that can't be good. I almost was starting to feel bad for Cole. Percy then stepped forward, and he grabbed Cole's arm.

"I said _lay off."_ Cole spun around and tried to punch Percy in the gut, but Percy side-stepped and twisted Cole's arm behind his back and kicked him behind the knees which made him fall. One of our typical battle moves, but I'm still surprised Percy remembered it. Cole got back up, and this time got Percy square in the gut, making him keel over. Finally Grover pitched in, kicking Cole in the side, but I still couldn't move, I was still in shock. After getting punched in the mouth, Cole didn't throw another punch. Instead, he turned to face Percy.

"Next time I see you, dude, you're dead." He spit out blood to the side.

"Yeah? You want to lose more teeth? Well then keep your mouth shut." Percy replied. Cole glanced back at me, and spit out some more blood, _yuck__._

"Well Annabeth, I can't wait to see those beautiful grey eyes staring at me tomorrow night." Cole winked at me and gave Percy a small glare, but then just walked away. Seriously, Cole is flirting with me so much it's making me sick. Who does he think he is? Expecting every girl to just fall in love-

"Annabeth?" I jumped. I completely forgot that my two best friends were here! The ones I haven't seen in four months! I raised my head to find Percy and Grover just staring at me.

"Well, uh hey." I stammered. This was an awful nice way to meet your friends you haven't seen in months. "So um…what's up?" Grover started to run towards me. "Uh, Grover, what are you doing-"

"Umph!" next thing I knew I was trapped in the Special Grover goat hug.

"Oh my Gods Annabeth! We missed you so much! How's school? How's your family? Have you been attacked by any monsters-"

"Okay! Nice to see you too, Grover," I laughed. Same old goat. I looked over at Percy. He was now walking over with a stupid grin slapped on his face.

"Hey, Wise Girl, have you gotten shorter?" of course, typical of Seaweed Brain, make fun of the new shorter one. I crossed my arms.

"Well, I see you've gotten even more stupid."

"Thanks."

"No Problem."

"Okay!" exclaimed Grover. "Jeez, you guys are still the same ever since you first met!" Grover then looked at me. "So, just wondering, Why are you here?" I heaved a great sigh. This has been probably the longest day of my life.

"Uh, I think we should sit down to talk, it's a long story."


	8. Chapter 8

**Ok, so this one took me a while to edit but here it is! I own nothing.**

"Well, we're here," announced Grover, pointing to the two little beach towels under a shady tree. We all walked over to the little spot and sat down on the towels. Well, I pretty much collapsed on my knees, not making a big scene. I was just so tired. I found Percy giving me a worried look.

"Don't worry, I'm fine, really. I'm just tired." He smiled, but I could tell he wasn't completely buying it. He also looked really angry about something else.

"So how's it been going back at home Annabeth?" Grover started, eyeing a tin can right next to him.

"Pretty good, not too many monsters, and nothing is going on at mount Tam." I hesitated. Should I tell them about Luke coming to my house? No, they'll find out this summer. I looked a Percy.

"Any monsters attacking you?" he shrugged.

"Not many, at least." He started to pick the sand off the towel. "I wonder if they're all gathering for strength at mount Tam." I shrugged.

"Well if they are, they're doing really well hiding it."

For a second I looked down, this whole big war thing was coming way too quickly. It was really nerve-racking. I mean, I wish that sometimes we could just have a normal life, without worrying about being killed this upcoming summer.

"Yum! This can is delicious!" Grover said through bits of tin and copper and whatever else was in there. Percy and I both laughed, Grover was always the one lightening things up, and so was Percy, but right now he seemed more worried about something else. Just then Grover stood up.

"Well, I'm gonna go buy some ice cream for us, what flavors do you guys want?"

"I'll have vanilla!" I said.

"And I'll have blueberry!" Percy said after me. Just then Grover trotted off, leaving Percy and I alone. I tensed. Grover could sense people's emotions _and_ he had an empathy link with Percy. Just great. He probably wants me to have some catch-up time with Percy. Well, here goes nothing-

"So how's everything _other_ than mount Tam going, Annabeth?" Percy asked, beating me to it.

"Well yeah, it's good… I made honor roll again," I smirked, knowing he gets annoyed every time I point out that I'm smarter than him. His cheeks flushed, and he crossed his arms.

"Hey! I could make honor roll if I wanted to."

"Sure…"

"I can!" he glared at me. Then we both just started cracking up. We just sat there laughing so hard that I could feel a six-pack coming. Percy still couldn't stop. Just the thought of him being a good student was ridiculous. After we died down, we found some people staring at us as they were passing by, probably thinking we were some weird teenage couple.

_Couple…_oh crap.

How could I tell him about my _main_ problem?! I can't just say 'oh, I need you to be my boyfriend tomorrow night!' that's completely embarrassing! I took a deep breath. Well, I'll just start out naturally.

"Hey Percy?" he was still recovering from his laugh attack but he managed to answer me.

"Yeah?"

I fumbled with my fingers. This is stupid, maybe I should just give in to Cole and go on this one date with him. Besides, then, we won't be alone than if I were to not bring my "Boyfriend" in and I would have to go on not only _that _date with him, but another one too! Except we would be completely alone the next time! I shook my head.

"U-um, why were y-you worried about me back there, Percy?" He froze, I swear I saw a little hint of red pass over his cheeks. He turned away from me, and looked out at the ocean, as if looking for an answer.

"I-I uh…" he cleared his throat, and now he really _was_ blushing. "I was just w-wondering, well…um…"

"We're running out of daylight here, Percy."

"Okay!" he glared at me, but he looked back at the ocean. I felt my face get warmer. "I heard you're conversation with that guy-"

"Cole."

"Whatever. Anyways, I heard it from the point where you said you 'don't have time to waste with him.'" I paled. So I guess he did here about the whole me saying I had a boyfriend thing. Well, that leaves a little less explaining to do.

"I don't." I muttered. Studying my sneakers.

"Y-you don't what?" he looked at me, with his eyes huge. It almost made me laugh, I got to it before Percy did.

"I don't …have a boyfriend."

He looked at me, his face was as red a tomato. I swear, is it that hard to get? Me. No. Boyfriend. It's as simple as that!

"So… why did you tell him you had one?" _Idiot. _I rolled my eyes.

"To get away from him_._"

"Oh."

"Duh, Seaweed Brain."

"No need to emphasize on it." He looked back at me. For a quick second I thought I saw a hint of relief on his face. But it left as quickly as it came. Probably just a best friend thing. Then a thought passed through me. Does _he_ have a girlfriend? For some reason a feeling of panic came over me. But I knew I had to ask, only for the sake of this…event. And so I turned to him.

"Do you have a girlfriend!?" I sputtered. I was actually afraid of the answer. What if Rachel asked him out? I flinched. Gods, I've hated that girl ever since the day I met her. It's obvious she flirts with Percy. Anger started to swell through me, but I covered it.

"No," Percy replied softly, as if afraid for anyone else would here. I shook my head, I even forgot the question I just asked.

"What?"

"You asked me if I had a girlfriend…and I don't." a flood of sudden relief flowed through me, for some odd reason- gods I hope it's not what I think it is.

"Really? That's great!" I slammed my hands over my mouth. Too late..

"W-What?" he looked at me, wide eyed again. I felt my face heating up.

"U-uh, I only said that b-because-well you see…" Grover is taking an awful long time getting that ice cream-

"I'm back!" Percy and I turned around to find Grover skipping towards us holding three ice-cream cones.

Great. Perfect timing. You had to come right _after_ I screwed up, not _before_ when I could've used your help.

"Took you long enough." I grumbled, my face probably still completely red.

"Sorry, the food line was really long."

"Whatever." I waved my hand away like it was no big deal. I looked up and saw Grover grinning, which kind of annoyed me.

"What did I miss?" oh gods. Emotion detector. I tried my best to let my mind go blank, but that's not so easy for a daughter of Athena. Percy rubbed his hand behind his head, just like he does when he's confused, nervous, or embarrassed. My bet's on embarrassed.

"Nothing."

"Sure…" Grover plopped himself down next to me.

"So Annabeth, you still haven't told us why you're here!" I relaxed, at least I could tell them that.

"Well, my class is here and staying till Tuesday to tour the New Museum."

"Awesome!" Grover said, intrigued. Percy did his best to look interested, but I could tell he and Grover were wondering more why I was _here_. Like, at the same exact beach.

"And since I was in the neighborhood, I thought I would drop in and say hi." I smiled, I was just doing my best to convince them.

"How did you know we were here, though?" Percy asked. Crap. Out of all the times Percy acts smart and asks questions, it has to be now. I cleared my throat.

"I-um…" I started to panic, no way I'd tell about the conversation with Sally.

"I…took my chances, and went to the nearest beach." I looked over at Percy. But then I saw Grover giving me s skeptical look. "What?" I quipped.

"Annabeth, I can sense that you came here to find us because were your friends, but there's another reason you came also."

"There is?" I asked in a shaky laugh. Stupid goat powers.

"It has to do with…" Grover looked at me, as if trying to read my mind. "That guy that had you pinned to the tree earlier…"

"uh-" I looked over to Percy who tensed when he was mentioned.

"And…" Grover had his eyes in little goat slits now, I could see the gears turning in his head, but I was too panicked to think about anything else now! Grover stopped and heaved a great sigh. "Well that's all I got, but I can tell you're thinking about that guy, so is there anything special between you two or something?" I thought I heard Percy catch his breath, seriously, what about Cole is bothering him?

"What?! No! it's the complete opposite! I swear on the river styx!" we heard the thunder boom and some of the beach partiers looked up at the sky with a confused look. I can't blame them. I would be confused hearing thunder boom from a bright blue sky with no clouds in sight.

"Oookaay so why are you thinking about him?" Grover asked. Since when is he so interested in my personal love issues?

"Uuummm…about that-I need to ask you guys a favor…" I started. I throat was conveniently dry. Oh please Athena, help me convince them and not have me sound like a nutcase…

"Sure, what's the problem?" Percy looked at me, and we locked eyes. His eyes were actually amazing. The way it seemed his green eyes could be so calming and sweet when you caught him in the right moment. Or how they looked live and energetic with it being a light shade of green. In fact, his eyes seemed to hold every shade of oceanic green, from thunderstorms to perfect calm waters. They sort of entranced you. And for some reason I thought of the time I kissed Percy on Mt Saint Helens. But that thought troubled me. Why _did_ I kiss him? I mean, I thought he was going to die, but that wasn't something I'd _ever_ do to Grover. _Ugh._ I probably just had a whole lot of emotions pouring through me at the moment, and I didn't even think about it. But still, I wonder what Percy thought of it-

"Hello? Earth to Annabeth and kelp head." I shook my head to wake up. _Huh?! _Wait hold it! What just happened there? I was like stuck in Percy's eyes…no. nu-uh. Not happening, I-

"ANNABETH!" Grover now was starting to become annoyed. I jumped in my seat.

"Oh, uh-sorry I just…spaced out for a second." My throat felt really dry right before I was going to actually tell them the next part.

"Anyways… I have a sort of big problem."

"It's probably not _that _bad." Grover said, picking tin can pieces out of his teeth, yuck.

"tell me that again after I finish my story." I heaved a big sigh, I guess I'll start right from the beginning.

"Ok, so the Greek architecture section opened in the museum recently right?"

"Yeah," Percy and Grover said at the exact same time.

"So it happened that my class has been studying Greek architecture for about a month and since we did so well, that our teacher was willing to take us all the way to Manhattan to see it."

"Lucky!" Grover exclaimed. Percy didn't seem to share the same amount of interest.

"Yeah well anyways, this morning when our class was leaving to the airport, Cole asked if he could sit next to me," I could tell by the looks on their faces that they knew where this was going. "And so by the end of the bus ride and we reached the air port, he kind of…" I coughed. For some reason my throat was still suspiciously dry. "Asked me out." Percy choked on his French fries and Grover spit out pieces of tin can.

"OH MY GODS HOW _DARE _THE LITTLE BEAUTY BITCH ASK YOU OUT WHEN YOU'VE GOT-" and that's when Grover slammed his hand over his mouth.

"When I've got what?" I inquired.

"N-nobody," Grover stuttered.

"no..._body_?!" I was glaring incredulously at him. "Where _you_ just about to match me up with someone?!"

"No!"

"Then what were you going to say?"

"Nothing!"

"Liar!" I smacked his shoulder

"Really!"

"Lies!"

_smack,_

"What were you going to say?!"

"a knife!"

_smack,_

"Battle skills!"

_smack!_

"Friends!"

_SMACK!_

"Ow!" Grover whimpered rubbing his shoulder "How about violence?"

"That's more Clarrisse's thing," Percy muttered.

"Fine, I'll end this interrogation session ," I said. Grover sighed " but Percy will help me later on, right Percy?" I asked.

"I don't even really get a say in this do I?" Percy muttered.

"No."

"Fine."

"You're a suck up, Percy." Grover huffed under his breath.

"Hey! I'm just being nice because she just got here!" then a devious grin slowly formed on Percy's face. "And I think it would be fun to play the 'Grover interrogation Game'." Grover glared at him.

"Fine, fine. But finish you story Annabeth! So did you accept? Are you going out with him?"

"Yeah right, not that jerk, right Annabeth?" Percy looked a little annoyed… and worried.

"Are you kidding me?! Of course not!" I swear, here I am telling them how much of a jerk he is and they're still wondering if I accepted? Boys. "I... kind of actually told him I wouldn't go out with him if he were the last jackass on Earth."

"Way to go Annabeth!" Percy said, giving me a high-five. But then they both tensed.

"How did he react?" Percy asked.

"Well…he asked why I couldn't go," I sucked in my breath I knew Percy already heard about my lie of a fake boyfriend, but I didn't tell him where he is involved in it. "and I lied and I told him I had a boyfriend." Percy nodded impatiently, as if telling me, 'Yeah, yeah, we've already covered that part, get to the point!'

"Except he still didn't believe me, and he asked me what his name was," my throat felt as dry as the Sahara Desert and I was thinking about some water as my brain began fighting with itself.

_"You have to tell Percy and Grover, mainly Percy!"_

_"No!"_

_"But you have to tell them the whole story!"_

_"But it's embarrassing!"_

_"Either that or go on two dates with Cole!"_

_"I'll live!"_

_"and become his girlfriend?"_

_"Aaarrggggg!"_ I mentally slap myself. Percy and Grover just stare at me.

"What?" I ask a little agitated, only because a certain daughter of Athena is about to humiliate herself in front of a certain son of Poseidon.

"Annabeth, he asked you what his name was…" Percy and Grover were looking at me impatiently, it's taken me forever to tell them the story, but I was going to face it, right here, right now, I just too tired. Besides, they are going to hear it sometime today anyways.

"Percy." I said as clearly as I could, just so I wouldn't have to say it again.

"I knew it!" Grover gave a fist pump in the air and his ice cream fell on his head. Percy just stared, wide eyed.

"Only because that's the first name that came to mind!"

"ssuuuuuuuuuuure," Grover cooed, this earned him another slap.

"Ow!"

I ignored him and looked over at Percy. If possible, his face was even redder. Seriously, this guy could probably set a record. But then, he starts laughing.

"Then I guess you were having a serious blonde moment," he snickers.

"Don't you _dare_ go there!." I said teasingly, and pushed him over. Feeling a little less embarrassed, I tried to tackle through to the biggest part of all."Well-"

"Annabeth!" all of our heads turn to see a brown haired girl with blue eyes barreling towards us.

"Chrissy!" I exclaimed, and started to stand up before she almost collided into me.

"Annabeth! You're going to be late for dinner! We only have 10 minutes!" I studied her more closely. She had beads of sweat running down her forehead, and her hair was messy and in her face.

"Did you run all the way here? You know there are such things as phones."I inquired.

"Uh-yeah, but you never answered and if you're not back in time, we're gonna get in serious trouble!" Only then did she even realize I had two other people sitting next to me.

"Uh, hi." She said staring at them.

"Hi, I'm Percy, and this is Grover." Percy extended his arm to greet her.

"Percy…" Chrissy looked at him and gave me a wicked grin. "I've heard so many things about-" that's when I clamped my hand over her mouth. We didn't need to get into the details.

"Well we've gotta run!" I exclaimed, already turning to leave.

"But you didn't finish your story," Grover whined.

"I'll do that later!" I glanced around me and that's when I realized we didn't have a ride. Turns out, the hotdog guy had a pretty nice Car. Graciously, we accepted his offer

After we were dropped off, we agreed to meet at the "Blueberry Coffee Cup" 2 blocks down from our hotel tomorrow morning at 8 am.

"C'mon!" Chrissy exclaimed pulling me through the doorway, "Dinner awaits!"


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey guys! Sorry but this one's pretty short, hopefully the previous chapter makes up for it :) If you like the story or think you have an idea, let me know! I'm open to any ideas, oh and I don't own any of the characters or anything.**

Once we arrived back at the hotel, we were immediatley hussled off of the dining hall where all the other students were.

And the very second I walked in, I was greeted with the most heavenly aroma of foods I had ever encountered in my life. Without thinking, I break away from Chrissy and make a bee line for the pork fried rice and mashed potatoes. As I was frantically filling my plate, only then did I realize that I had barely eaten anything all day. It also baffled me that just this morning, I woke up in my own bed back at home staring at a picture of Grover and Percy.

Dinner went pretty smoothly as I sat with Chrissy and hid from Cole and his idiotic friends, who seemed to be entertaining themselves by flinging mashed potatoes at the back of some poor guy's head. As I watched him, my stomach started twisting into an awful knot again, as it always did when I was around him. I tried to push the rest of my dinner down, but after a while gave up and Chrissy and I retreated up to our room.

"So how did you know I was at the beach?" I asked, funny how the thought only came to me now.

"Oh, well I ran into Mrs. Jackson and she told me." Chrissy replied as she started braiding her hair, and getting into her night gown. " I wanted to hang with you and so I went to her to find out where you went," she gave a small giggle. "I should've known you were off to find Percy."

"Only because he's my friend!" I exclaimed. "And well, you know about the whole boyfriend problem I need to sort out." She turned towards me.

"Oh yeah! So how'd it go?" a sudden perky tone of curiosity entered her voice.

"I didn't ask him yet," I uttered, kicking my sneakers against a chair. "I was getting to it, but then you came along and told me we were late so…" I faded off, waiting for her response- actually more like waiting for her help.

"Annabeth! The date's tomorrow night! Less than 24 hours away!" she wasn't mad, just concerned, because she knew how bad the consequences would be if I didn't bring a boyfriend.

"I know, I know, but Cole actually found me when I was at the beach, and accused me of 'looking for a fake boyfriend' and tried stopping me." You could see the disgust in Chrissy's eyes as I continued my story. "But before Cole could do anything to me Percy stepped in and actually saved me." This brought a huge grin to Chrissy's face.

"Oh that's so romantic! Percy save's the girl of his dreams, Annabeth, from-"

"I told you he doesn't like me!" I interrupted, but she just waved it away.

"Anyways, Annabeth, you HAVE to tell him the rest of your problem as soon as you can."

"I know," I sighed, "But hey I mean I have tomorrow morning to meet up before breakfast, right?" I asked. We had about two hours to look around inside the hotel and all through a big mall, just around the block. On normal days, that place felt like it could fit practically all of new york in there itself. "Hopefully I can meet Percy there." Chrissy is oddly beaming. "Uh…Chrissy?" I asked, not really sure on why she was so happy. She tried to wipe the smile off.

"Oh sorry Annabeth, it's just, it's so exciting that you and Percy are going to be a couple!" she nearly shreaked, overcome with giggles.

"FAKE couple," I reminded her, but smiling.

"Whatever," she playfully pushed me and we were both laughing, but then a thought came to her. "Wait," she paused, looking at me. "How am I supposed to go with you, If I don't have a boyfriend?" that thought hit me too. I mean, of course all along I was just thinking about how I was the one wanted on the date, and it was _my_ problem about the boyfriend in the first place. Despite that, I needed Chrissy to come along, to help me out with the whole thing. Before I could offer a solution, she yelped and jumped up off the bed, I followed her gaze to find a velvet pink box that magically appeared out of thin air at our feet.


	10. Just a note

**Don't worry I'm continuing the story!**

Hey guys so I know the first 9 chapters I uploaded quickly, but that was because they had already been typed a while ago. I'm sort of stuck at the moment of what I should do next in the story...but the next chapter will be out **Tomorrow****!**

****But please comment to let me know what I can do to make the story better! Thanks :)


	11. Chapter 10

**so here it is! I think I know where to go from this now...A surprise awaits!** **Like I said I don't own any of the Characters (except for Cole and Chrissy) even though I wish I did.**

"Don't freak out!" Chrissy exclaimed, waving her hands frantically. To be honest, she seemed to be more panicked than I was. She laughed nervously as she said "That box didn't appear out of thin air or anything, I-I just brought it out from under the bed when I stood up." She seemed really nervous and frantic, but then stopped when she finally realized I wasn't freaking out. I gave a small smile and picked up the tiny pink box, while Chrissy drew in a sharp breath. She obviously didn't want me to see whatever was inside, but by this time I knew what was going on. Inside the box there was a glass vial filled with thick pink liquid, along with a note that read:

_Dear Chrissy my darling,_

_ I couldn't help but overhear your little chat with Annabeth, and well, try to help out. This bottle came straight from my best collection of potions I have concocted for multiple purposes, and I want to give this one to you. It's an invisibility potion, and one swallow will last for approximately three hours. Now my darling, If you measure that out, that bottle will keep someone invisible for about 9 hours. Dear, I apologize in advance for the unappealing taste, I'm still trying to figure out how to fix that. Anyways, being my daughter, I know that you will know how to use this, good luck helping those two! _

_ With lots of love,_

_ Aphrodite_

_ P.S. I know we're not really supposed to have much contact, but Zeus is busy beating down on Dionysus (gods know what he did wrong this time) so keep this our little secret? Xoxo –mom_

After reading this aloud, it all came together. Chrissy's fascination with the gods, Aphrodite, all the ways she tries to seek romance and love, and the way she convinced people just by simply doing a little charm speaking.

"I knew it," I said, slowly starting to look up at her, I couldn't help the grin on my face. "You're a demigod!" before she could say anything, I squeezed her to death In a big hug. " I can't believe it! This is so awesome!" her face became less ashen.

"Annabeth…you can't tell a soul." That's when it hit me that she didn't know my secret. I excitedly grabbed her by the shoulders, and shook her back and forth.

"Chrissy, I'm a daughter of Athena!" her face lit up, I continued, happiness overflowing. "And Grover, he's really a satyr! Just in disguise! And Percy…"

I paused, technically Percy wasn't supposed to even be alive. Because of his birth, this great war was coming up. I shook my head and pushed that aside, she deserved to know everything. "And Percy, he's the son of Poseidon!" she slowly sat back down on the bed, her face was mixed with awe and excitement. I remember feeling like this, when Luke and Thalia told me who they really were, after they found me when I was such a little girl. My heart ached at the thought of luke, but I shook my head and turned my attention back to Chrissy.

"You alright there?" I asked, she looked up at me slowly.

"Yeah, it's just that all this time I thought..." she fiddled with a charm bracelet on her wrist "Well, that I was alone. Not like it was a bad thing - but I thought I was the only one who could see monsters and such." I sat down on the bed next to her, but before I could utter a comforting word she squealed with excitement. "This is the best day ever! I'm not alone anymore!" I laughed as she wrapped me in a hug that was like a death clamp, but then a more important question entered my mind.

"Chrissy, why haven't you been to Camp Half-Blood?" she let go of me.

"Well, I've heard of it...but I've never really needed to go..." she smirked at my puzzled expression "Well Annabeth I'm a daughter of the Goddess of love, they don't really find me a threat."

"Oh, right, but children of Aphrodite still go..." She could tell by the look on my face that I was trying to imply.

"So you want me to go?"

"Of course!" I exclaimed. she giggled.

"Oh fine...I guess"

"You'll love it!" Now I was the one squealing and jumping on the bed, until an unpleasant thought entered my mind. We were having a war this summer...there wasn't really going to be a camp this time, maybe not ever. I distracted myself from the depressing thought by turning my attention to the most recent package from Aphrodite. Gears churned in my mind as I thought of the possibilities in which we could possibly use the invisible potion. It took less than a second before I figured that out.

"Chrissy! She wants you to use it so you can sneak into the dinner and dance with me!" Her eyes widened as she had slowly come to realize the same thing,.

"Oh...So I don't need a date?"

"You almost sound disappointed" I cooed, she playfully whacked me with a pillow.

"Oh shut up!"

She gingerly held the little pink vial of goo and put it by her bedside table.

From there we both stripped into our Pajamas, brushed our teeth, and kept speaking with avid excitement what we were going to do tomorrow as we climbed into bed. As I gazed up at the ceiling in silence, I couldn't the small notion of stress that was lurking in me. What am going to do? I mean, all I really have to do is just go up to Percy and ask him for help, but after that? What if Cole doesn't believe that Percy is my boyfriend? He also won't like seeing him again especially after their fight today. What happens if another fight breaks out? It will be Cole and all his Idiot friends against Percy and me, well I guess Chrissy also. Not wanting to really think about it anymore I sighed and decided to start trying to fall asleep. Before I could burrow under the covers to await the morning, Chrissy turned around in her bed to face me.

"Hey, Annabeth?"

"Yes?" I answered groggily, all I really wanted to do was pass out, but I gave it my best effort to listen to her.

"Have you ever thought that we are messing with fate?"

"Wha?" My brain was officially too tired to function, and it felt as though Chrissy's voice was a radio station that was starting to get cut off from lack of any good reception. I still heard her uttering something in the background, as my mind slipped into the vast empty space of my imagination.


End file.
